Bless the Bride

hearing otherwise. I suspect that Captain Kear wants to pin it on Frederick because he’s not connected to one of the tongs.”
    “Captain Kear. I might have known,” Aileen Chiu said, smoothing her hands down her apron. “That man’s nothing but trouble. He’s given Albert his share of grief, hasn’t he, my dear, because Albert won’t go along with bribing the police.”
    “Let’s not go into that,” Albert said curtly. “So Frederick Lee is being held in the Tombs and you want us to find a lawyer to represent him?”
    “A good lawyer,” I said. “I just wondered if you knew such a person. I don’t know how much Frederick could pay, but I hate to think of him being browbeaten into a confession because he has nobody to speak for him.”
    “Quite right,” Albert Chiu said. “Don’t worry, Miss Murphy. I will try to do something about this. I will ask my fellow church members today and if they can’t come up with anybody, then I will go to CCBA tomorrow. They will certainly find someone to represent him.”
    “CCBA? What’s that?” I asked
    “It is the Consolidated Benevolent Association. It looks after the welfare of Chinese citizens.”
    “For a price,” Aileen muttered.
    Albert frowned at her.
    “Well, it does,” she said defiantly. “You have to pay CCBA if you want to open a business in Chinatown.”
    “Isn’t that just like one of the tongs, then?” I asked.
    “Oh, no,” Albert said. “It’s how the tongs started out. Now they’re too busy trying to destroy each other and demand protection money from us businessmen. At least the CCBA is not crooked. They will probably pay to hire a lawyer for Frederick Lee.”
    “Unless someone in On Leong like Bobby Lee pays them not to,” Aileen said.
    “Hush, woman. Do not speak of something you know little about,” Albert said. “My word is respected in this community. If I ask for help, I will receive help. You need not worry, Miss Murphy. I will do my best for a fellow Chinese.”
    “Thank you,” I said. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am.”
    “How do they know that Lee Sing Tai was murdered?” Albert Chiu asked. “From what I heard, he fell from the roof where he had been sleeping.”
    “Someone pushed him from the roof,” I said.
    “How do they know this? Was there a witness?”
    “He had a wound to the side of his head,” I said. Even as the words came out I realized that I was probably the one who had caused all this trouble. If only I had kept quiet about noticing the wound. If only I had not insisted that Lee Sing Tai had been murdered, then Captain Kear would probably have been happy to let the death be ruled accidental. As usual I had spoken too hastily, without thinking through the consequences, and it was my fault that Frederick Lee was now locked up in the Tombs.
    “Is that so?” Mr. Chiu nodded. “So it is believed that someone struck him first and then threw him to his death?”
    “You see, I knew it,” Aileen Chiu said triumphantly. “I knew there had been a death that night. What did I tell you?”
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “Well, we were sleeping on our roof too,” Aileen Chiu said. “And our Kitty woke up and said she thought she saw an angel. So I said to Albert—it’s come down from heaven to take somebody, you mark my words. And I was right.”
    “Your Kitty saw an angel? On Mr. Lee’s rooftop?” I asked.
    “She couldn’t exactly pinpoint it to Mr. Lee’s rooftop, but it was one of those buildings farther down the block. Her father thought she’d dreamed it, of course, but she was quite insistent. It was either an angel or a fairy, she said.”
    “Did she say what this angel looked like?” I tried to keep my voice steady.
    “A little dainty spirit thing, like a young girl with white wings, and it flew from one roof to the next.”

Twenty-seven
     
     
     
    I ran all the way back to the El station on Chatham Square, driven by my anger. I stood, seething, on the railway platform, waiting for a train that didn’t come. Finally it dawned on me that today was a public holiday and the train schedule would be curtailed. I ran down the steps again, not willing to wait any longer, threw caution to the winds, and hailed myself a cab.
    I had to get back to Patchin Place immediately. I had to confront her. I didn’t stop to think that if she had killed once before, most efficiently, she could do so again if cornered. I was so furious at having been taken in by her. Poor